On July 3, 2024, Abolfazl Amiri, an aviation mechanic, suffered a fatal accident at Chabahar Konarak Airport in southern Iran while conducting routine maintenance on a Boeing 737-500. A tragic sequence of events led to Amiri being pulled into the aircraft’s active engine on the right wing, which was undergoing a test run at the time.
Amiri, an employee of Varesh Airlines, was attending to the Boeing 737-500 that had arrived from Tehran at 7:15 a.m. As per the standard procedure, a safety zone had been established around the engine, and the cover flaps were left open during the test. After realizing he had left a tool on the engine, Amiri went back to retrieve it and was tragically drawn into the turbine engine, leading to a subsequent fire.
Emergency services promptly arrived at the scene to put out the fire but were only able to recover Amiri’s remains from the debris. The Iranian aviation authority has initiated an investigation to uncover the circumstances leading to the fatal accident. Meanwhile, the aircraft has been grounded pending a comprehensive inspection.
This unfortunate incident underscores the inherent risk of working close to a jet engine and isn’t an isolated event:
In May 2024, a man lost his life at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport after being drawn into a KLM Embraer 190 engine during a pushback process. Passengers and crew on board reported hearing an alarming noise, followed by the sight of thick black smoke emanating from the engine. The incident is currently being treated as a case of deliberate suicide by the legal authorities.
In June 2023, a similar incident occurred when David Renner, 27, was fatally pulled into a Delta Airlines plane engine at San Antonio International Airport in Texas. His death was later determined to be a suicide.
Back in December 2022, on New Year’s Eve, Courtney Edwards, a 34-year-old airline worker, was fatally pulled into an Embraer E175 engine while carrying out her duties. This incident served as a stark reminder of the essential need for rigorous safety protocols when operating near such powerful machinery.
